Backyard Wonderful pomegranate harvest with fruit measurements

December is the time of year you’ll see pomegranate appearing on supermarket shelves. But did you know that pomegranates you can buy right now were harvested two months prior in September, or even sooner?

It’s not easy to ship fresh produce, and involves several supply chains. It’s even more challenging by the supply chain bottlenecks we’re experiencing right now.

So, you shouldn’t count on your pomegranates being fresh from the orchard. Unless that orchard is your own backyard where you can enjoy it right off the tree.

Freshness aside, growing your own pomegranate offers many benefits. One of which is the longer harvest season.

When Wonderful pomegranate ripe?

In the US, pomegranates ripen around September and that’s when the harvest season begins. It’s approximately 6 to 7 months from blossoming to harvest.

How to tell when a Wonderful pomegranate fruit is ready for picking?

By the time you get into harvest season, the fruits will turn from green to dark red, even purple. Inside of the fruit, the arils are plump with juice and have enlarged. The pressure built-up inside causes the shape of the fruit to deform going from round to squarish. Splitting can happen to the outer skin. The skin of a ripe pomegranate becomes soft and easy to scratch. The fruit also feels heavier relative to its size.

My 1.5 pound (667 grams) Wonderful pomegranate harvest

Back in September, I harvested one of the largest fruits from our 6½ year old Wonderful pomegranate tree ever produced. The largest fruits were comparable to commercial pomegranates found in supermarkets. The fruit size seemed to have doubled compared to the previous year’s harvest. This year’s monsoon was a complete turn-around from last year’s so called “non-soon”. It ended as the third-wettest monsoon on record. 12.79 inches in total amount of rain received compared to 2.5 inches in 2020. Changes to climate conditions did affect fruit size and quality.

Fruit Measurements

Here’s are some fun results from my home measuring kit of a string, tape measure and kitchen scale.

Measuring the circumference around a Wonderful pomegranate fruit.

I also measured fruits from our Parfianka pomegranate and Red Silk pomegranate trees to see how the Wonderful stacked up.

Aril Color

Pomegranate aril color varies from almost translucent white to deep red. Some pomegranate varieties will have fruit where the arils, never develop a dark red color.

What are the edible parts of pomegranates?

The edible parts of pomegranates are the arils that are the juicy coating around the seed. You can eat the seed together with the arils. Juice is another popular way to consume pomegranates. Hand juicing is the generally recommended method for extracting juice from a pomegranate. Pomegranates provide high amounts of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, vitamins, potassium, folic acid, and iron.